Position Paper: On the Land Issue of Palestine

Synopsis

This position paper aims to provide a Christian perspective on the land issue of Palestine. By Christian perspective we mean to level the whole issue through the teachings of Christ and the new covenant theology instituted by the God of Israel through His Son, Jesus Christ.

We are aware of the sensitivity of this issue, keeping in mind that large number of Evangelical and Charismatic Christians support the idea that Palestine (the border though is unclear) was given by Yahweh to the nation of Israel and thereby have the right to settle and occupy the disputed land.

We are also aware of the theological implication involve in this controversy. Christian persuasions are divided on the relationship between Israel and the church. Did the church replace Israel as God’s chosen people (replacement theology)? Or does God have two plans, one for Israel and one for the church (dispensational theology)? Or through the new covenant of the blood of the Son of God there is now the universal people of God, composed of Jews and Gentile who believe in Christ (covenantal theology)?

We also have taken into consideration the sensitivity of the issue of anti Semitism, undue hatred against the Jewish people and anti Zionism, opposition against the settlement of Palestine by the Jews that dislocate many destitute Palestinians.

Our General Position

We stand by the teachings of the apostles found in the Scriptures and thought by the early church fathers that the God of Israel sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to teach repentance and to die on the cross for the forgiveness of sins for all mankind, Jews and Gentile alike (john 3:16).
That on the night before He died, the Lord Jesus Christ celebrated the Passover with his apostles and instituted the new covenant that offers forgiveness and eternal life to His Jewish apostles and to all who will believe (Matthew 26: 26-28).
God did not replace Israel; but as written by the Old Testament prophets He gathered a remnant of Jews (Romans 11:5) who believe in His Son, Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah and through them the Christian church was birthed.
That the new covenant of the Son did not replace the old covenant but fulfilled (Matthew 5:15) and affirmed God’s promise to save the world by offering His grace and fellowship to all the nations through His Son.
Having said these, we believe that the salvation of the nation of Israel is not found in settling neither in the land nor on the rebuilding of the temple but by believing (Romans 11:23) in Christ, the Messiah!

On the People of Israel and Palestinians

Like the apostle Paul we hope (Romans 10:1–4) and pray for the salvation of Israel in Christ Jesus, our Lord!
We fully uphold our Judeo Christian heritage and acknowledge the blessing of Israel to the world, its story and faith, for without it the world would not have known the wonderful revelation of God the Creator, His Laws and His Grace, but most of all the fullness of His Truth in His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
We fully respect the longing of the Jewish people in dispersion to return to the land that they knew as their land, but as people who knows the law of God it is expected of them to achieve their aspirations in a peaceful and just manner and to treat the “foreigners living among them” with dignity (Deuteronomy 23:7-8, Ezekiel 47:22-23).
We recognize that the Palestinians settled in the land prior to 1948 have legitimate right to inhabit, to live and to co-exist within the Jewish society, just as Jewish communities live and co exist with other people of other nations and faith outside Palestine.
We do not condone any form of violence, terrorism, invasion, unlawful settlement and provocation instigated by Israel and by the Palestinians.
We were instructed by our Lord to love and be in peace with all men. Therefore, we are called to understand, love and respect all human beings who we uphold are created in the image of God. In this particular case Jews and the Palestinian Arabs alike.

On the Blessing Abraham and Israel

We believe that the greatest blessing Christians can bestow to modern day Israel is the preaching of the Gospel, that they may hear and believe as the apostle Paul admonished in His writings (Romans 10: 14-15).
For salvation is not by racial pedigree but by believing in Christ, that “all Israel will be saved”[1] (Romans 11:20) refers to the community of Jews who will come to Christ, and does not refer to ethnicity.
We uphold that the promise to Abraham, “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3) and that his descendants would be like the stars and the sand on the seashore[2] (Genesis 22:17) has been fulfilled in and through Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16, John 1:11-13).

On the Land and the Temple

We are fully aware of the importance of the land (Jerusalem) and the temple as a central motif in the aspirations of Israel, but Scripture tells us that in the new covenant through the Son of God, the true and eternal inheritance is no longer found in a geographical location[3] nor on temples but by being in Christ.
That under the new covenant “Christ we offered once to bear the sins of many,” (Hebrews 9:28) and for which “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10) and therefore “there is no longer and offering for sin.” (Hebrews 10:18).
Our longing is not found in land and temples but on the new heaven and new earth where “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are His temple.” (Revelations 21:22)

“And when you hear that we look for a kingdom, you suppose, without making any inquiry, that we speak of a human kingdom; whereas we speak of that which is with God, as appears also from the confession of their faith made by those who are charged with being Christians, though they know that death is the punishment awarded to him who so confesses. For if we looked for a human kingdom, we should also deny our Christ, that we might not be slain; and we should strive to escape detection, that we might obtain what we expect. But since our thoughts are not fixed on the present, we are not concerned when men cut us off; since also death is a debt, which must at all events be paid.” – Justin Martyr[4]

[1] John Stott, The Message of Romans (Leicester: IVP, 1994), p.303, Steve Motyer, Israel in the Plan of God (Leicester, IVP, 1989), pp 151-157.

[2] John Hagee, Final Dwan over Jerusalem (Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 1998) pp.108-109, God has two plans, to the stars as the church and the sand as Israel.

[3] Stefan Tiran, Essay – Land in Deuteronomy and Pauline Theology, 2010.

[4] Justin Martyr, First Apology of Justin, Chapter XI, “What Christians look for.”